


Thestrals

by torestoreamends



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Spoilers, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 00:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7954699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torestoreamends/pseuds/torestoreamends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus and Scorpius reminisce about the events of Cursed Child, and Albus starts making friends with the Thestrals, since both boys would now be able to see them.<br/>Beta'd by brief_and_dreamy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thestrals

Hogwarts is bathed in the golden sunshine of one of the last good days before the cold and rain set in for the winter. The Forbidden Forest is a blaze of red and orange leaves. Overhead the sky is cloudless and a bright blue. Autumn sun slants low through the trees, throwing long shadows across the grounds, dust motes dancing in the shafts of light.

It’s a Sunday so the lawn is scattered with people taking advantage of this last relatively mild day. Even the giant squid is basking in the shallows, while a couple of first year Hufflepuffs linger at the edge of the pebble beach watching it with a mix of curiosity and terror.

This is the kind of day when Scorpius loves the school the most. The castle is almost painfully beautiful to look at, with pale auburn light staining the walls and turrets and the mountains behind.

He skirts round a small group of sixth years studying under a tree near the edge of the forest, ignoring the stares that still seem to follow him and Albus wherever they go. He knows exactly where Albus is, spotted him disappearing into the trees from the library window a little earlier. 

When Scorpius eventually catches up, Albus is right where he expected him to be. He’s standing in a small clearing a little way into the forest, leaning against the low stone wall that’s supposed to mark the edge of the centaur land. In front of him, several black, skeletal horses with leathery, bat-likes wings are standing calmly in the shadows. They completely ignore the boy watching them, too busy snaffling at the last remnants of some bird carcass that’s been left for them on the ground.

Scorpius walks across the clearing, freshly fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet, and leans next to Albus.

“I thought you were still in the library,” Albus says, turning to look at him. “Didn’t you have an Arithmancy essay to write?”

“I did, but then I finished it. And I’d rather be out here anyway." 

"How did you know where I was?”

“I saw you leaving out of the window, and then I guessed you were on your way here.”

Albus nods and looks back at the Thestrals. They have stripped the carcass to the bone now and are starting to sniff around for their next meal. Scorpius watches him watch the Thestrals in silence for a moment. Albus is wearing the same striped blue top he’d worn that night in Godric’s Hollow. It’s in Ravenclaw Colours. Albus has always seen it as an ironic statement, the stupid one wearing the colours of the smartest house. Not that Albus has ever really been stupid. Wilfully ignorant, maybe, but never stupid.

“Albus…” Scorpius says finally, breaking the silence. “Are you okay? I-I’ve seen you come down here sometimes, when Hagrid’s been feeding them. I know you can see them…”

“Oh I’m fine,” Albus says, almost too brightly. “This is Care of Magical Creatures research. I know we’re not supposed to study them until next year but I read about them and I thought I’d get ahead.”

Scorpius studies him carefully. “You. Wanting to get ahead with school work? I didn’t think you even read your books unless you absolutely had to.”

Albus shrugs. “Maybe that’s what I do now. Maybe now I’m a success story like my dad I’m actually starting to enjoy this place a bit more.”

“Or,” Scorpius says slowly, “maybe you’re being really weird and freaking me out. I do know you quite well, Albus. I know when something’s up. I don’t always know exactly what is up, but I know there’s something. I am surprisingly perceptive.”

“You knew about Delphi.”

“Yes I did. I told you, I figured it out about two seconds before she went totally evil on us. Is this about her, Albus?”

Albus ignores the question and nods toward the Thestrals. “My dad warned me about them. He told me I’d be able to see them now.”

“I wish someone had warned me,” Scorpius mutters. “That first day of third year they frightened the life out of me. I mean obviously I knew they existed but I wasn’t exactly prepared.”

“You’ve been able to see them since third year?” Albus asks, glancing sideways at him.

Scorpius’ shoulders slump slightly and he bows his head. “Yes of course I have. I was in the room at St Mungo’s when, you know, when my mum died." 

Albus frowns down at the mossy wall. "You never told me about them before.”

“There was no point. You couldn’t have seen them. I rather hoped you’d never be able to see them. But here we are, and here they are, and you can now, so…”

“I-” Albus starts then stops. He traces his finger over a bit of golden lichen on a jagged piece of stone. “I think I thought she was going to kill you.” He looks up at Scorpius. “When she started pointing that wand at you. I thought that was going to be it. I thought… I thought I was going to lose you forever.”

Scorpius gives a little nod and blinks down at the leaf strewn forest floor. “Yes. I think I thought she was going to kill me too.” He looks up at Albus very suddenly. “But she didn’t. I am fine. I mean, sometimes things still hurt a bit from where she Crucio’d me, but I’m definitely not dead, which is the important thing.”

Albus nods and stares out at the Thestrals again. There’s a little foal, which is licking blood off the roots of the tree where the bird carcass had been discarded, legs splayed out so it can reach low enough, tail switching back and forth. 

“Scorpius?”

“Albus.”

“Do you think- D'you think maybe if I’d been less… Less blind, that we could’ve stopped her?”

“We did stop her, Albus.”

“Not before she killed Craig. If we’d worked it out earlier we could have stopped her and she wouldn’t have been able to hurt anyone.”

Scorpius shifts sideways and leans his hip against the wall, arms crossed, looking at every inch of Albus’ slightly hunched figure. “I think that she was a very powerful dark witch. You know, Rose told me she overheard her mum say that she’d confounded Amos. And she never gave you a reason to suspect her. It wasn’t until she mentioned the Rowles that I really thought she was bad. I never exactly liked her before that, but I didn’t expect her to be evil.”

“I bet my dad would have known,” Albus says miserably.

“You should read a book about your dad sometime,” Scorpius says. He digs into the bag he’s carrying and pulls out a napkin wrapped around a couple of sausages and some bits of bacon. “He was never quite as quick off the mark as you’d think. Here.” He takes one of the sausages and hands Albus the rest of the napkin.

Albus looks down at it. “Why are you giving me lukewarm sausages?”

“I picked them up from brunch earlier. They like them, the Thestrals. They prefer raw meat but I didn’t fancy breaking into the kitchen today. Look.” Scorpius tears the sausage in half and throws one of the pieces over the wall. It bounces across the leaves and comes to rest by the hooves of one of the Thestrals. It sniffs at the meat for a second, then with a single chomp it’s gone. 

“They’re very friendly,” Scorpius says. “They look sinister but they’re actually quite nice. Bit like you really." 

Albus glares at him. "I do not look sinister.”

“You do sometimes when you’re brooding like that. Do you remember when you had that fight with your dad over Christmas last year? You were stomping around for days. Half the first years thought you were going to hex them. I told them you couldn’t put a spell on them even if you wanted to,” Scorpius grins at him.

Albus steals the other half of the sausage from Scorpius’ hand just to shut him up and chucks it toward the foal. It’s gone in a flash. “You know mum taught me that bat bogey hex she’s so good at?”

Scorpius takes one of the pieces of bacon from the napkin in Albus’ hand. “Did she? That’s mildly interesting.”

“Turns out I’m really good at it too.” He shoots Scorpius a mocking glare and imitates his dad’s voice. “You should watch yourself, Malfoy.”

Scorpius laughs loudly, throwing his head back, eyes alight. 

Albus just smiles at him and keeps throwing bits of food across to the Thestrals who are starting to wander closer to them. The foal skitters in their direction, gazing up at the pair of them with pale, blank eyes, sniffing around. Albus holds his hand out with a bit of bacon sitting in his palm and it reaches up and gently takes the food before throwing its head back and gulping it down in one go.

“Seriously though, Albus,” Scorpius says when he stops laughing. “You were fine. You were great. You couldn’t have done any more than you did. You quite literally saved the world." 

"So did you. Twice.”

“We saved it together. You and me. With help from a couple of other people. But you did so much. You were the one who told Cedric to finish the maze. That thing with the blanket? Pure genius. And you unlocked the doors so we could get out and catch Delphi. I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty about, Albus. Nothing at all.”

Albus considers for a moment then nods seriously. “Okay." 

"You’re sure? I can hug you if you like.”

Albus cracks a smile. “I’m not sure that will be necessary…” He looks up at Scorpius. “Thank you.”

“Always here to make you feel better, mate. Now, can we hurry up and finish feeding these things? I need your genius brain to help me with that Runes translation. There’s a really odd one I’ve never seen before and I have no idea what it means." 

"You want me to help you with homework? Has this ever happened before?" 

"No, and it will never happen again. Bask in the glory of this moment.”

Albus grins. “Alright.” He feeds the last couple of bits of bacon in the Thestrals’ general direction, wipes his hands on the outside of the napkin and together he and Scorpius start to walk back to the school.

Up ahead Hogwarts is glowing red as the afternoon sun begins to sink toward the horizon. The window of the great hall sparkles with ruby light.

“It does look good,” Albus says, gazing up at the castle, “doesn’t it?”

“I thought you hated it,” Scorpius says. 

“I did, but it might be growing on me. It has a definite up side.” He digs his hands into his pockets and starts jogging up the lawn, his long shadow running ahead of him. “Come on! You’ll have to hurry up if you want to copy my Runes homework.”

“No. Not copy! I never said I wanted to copy.” Scorpius shouts after him, reluctantly breaking into a run. “I’d just like to… Briefly observe and inwardly digest!”

As Albus disappears off up the lawn his laughter bubbles back to Scorpius. It’s a nice reminder that even if things still aren’t easy they are rapidly improving. And that is definitely, as far as Scorpius is concerned, a very good thing. 


End file.
